Reading for prosperity
What does reading have to do with business success? A great deal, in our opinion. Learning and growing are central to our business model. In today’s challenging environment, entrepreneurs need to stay focused and be prepared to adapt their strategy as required. One way we do this at Giroma is to immerse ourselves in materials that are designed to build our knowledge and problem-solving skills. What follows is a brief overview of a handful of books that we’ve found particularly helpful.
First, The Magic of Thinking Big by David Schwartz
This is an intensely practical book that goes well beyond telling the reader how important it is to think big. David Schwartz focuses on the how, giving down-to-earth advice backed up by case histories. In his view, most people are held back because their thoughts are too small and consequently their expectations and results are stunted.
Schwartz shows his readers how to identify and tackle three common problems: excuse-itis, detail-itis, and procrastination. He advises acting now, not waiting for conditions to be perfect because they never will be. He stresses the need to balance persistence with experimentation in order to avoid repeating patterns that clearly don’t work. Making time for solitude and reflection are essential in his view: they release personal clarity and power, leading to better decisions. Equally important is the ability to choose where to go for advice, deliberately seeking out successful people and learning to give less weight to the opinions of less-informed individuals who may want to see you fail.
Here are some snippets to give you a flavour of his thoughts on the power of creativity:
- “Belief releases creative powers. Disbelief puts the brakes on. Believe, and you’ll start thinking constructively. Your mind will create a way if you let it.”
- “There is no one best way to do anything. There are as many best ways as there are creative minds.”
- “Traditional thinking is personal enemy number one for the person who is interested in a creative personal success program. Traditional thinking freezes your mind, blocks your progress, and prevents you from developing creative power.”
Secondly, two books by Bob Burg and John David Mann: The Go-Giver and Go-Givers Sell More
We find these books especially compelling because of their focus on customer service. The authors show how to build a successful business by emphasising giving, not getting: understanding clients’ needs, putting their interests first, and finding ways to create more value for them. The primary target of any marketing and sales strategy, according to this approach, is to serve people, not to make money. The authors are not averse to making money, we hasten to add: rather, they see it as the outcome, not the main objective.
The business model that Burg and Mann describe is underpinned by five basic principles:
- “The Law of Value: your true worth is determined by how much more you give in value than you take in payment.”
- “The Law of Compensation: your income is determined by how many people you serve and how well you serve them.”
- “The Law of Influence: your influence is determined by how abundantly you place other people’s interests first.”
- “The Law of Authenticity: the most valuable gift you have to offer is yourself.”
- “The Law of Receptivity: the key to effective giving is to stay open to receiving.”
Giroma’s emphasis on win-win solutions owes much to material like this.
Every director in this company enjoys the opportunity to learn and grow. We feel this is all the more essential in the current economic climate—so we’re grateful to the writers and thinkers whose work expands our vision, enriches our journey and builds your prosperity.